Posts by 

EarthSky Voices

Wolf-Rayets are hot, massive, bright stars

Wolf-Rayet stars make our sun look tiny. They can be hundreds of times more massive, millions of times brighter, and tens of thousands of degrees hotter.

Why wildfires are bigger and harder to control

It's a perfect storm of factors - including climate change, development, past forest management policies and current firefighting practices, says forestry expert.

Dust in space: 10 cool things to know

In space, dust comes from comets and exploding stars. It can form planetary rings, drive global weather patterns and even form the seeds of new planets.

20 years of tracking Near-Earth Objects

Asteroid on a collision course with Earth? These astronomers will likely see it first. NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies - now entering its 3rd decade - makes over 90 percent of near-Earth asteroid and comet discoveries. Here's how and why they do their work.

Which lizards can outlast a hurricane?

In the wake of hurricanes Irma and Maria, researchers document how catastrophic storms can be agents of natural selection, influencing how species evolve.

12 shark facts that might surprise you

#5 If you flip a shark over, it goes into a trance.

Is the moon toxic to humans?

When the Apollo astronauts returned from the moon, the dust that clung to their spacesuits made their throats sore and their eyes water. Lunar dust is made of sharp, abrasive particles, but how toxic is it for humans?

Volcano discovered under fastest-melting Antarctic glacier

Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier is melting, thanks to warming waters from below. What’s more, a recent study has discovered a volcano beneath the glacier.

Ghostly neutrino caught in South Pole ice ushers in a new astronomy

Last week, scientists announced the 1st known source for ghostly, high-energy neutrinos. The source is a blazar, a billion-solar-mass black hole 3.7 billion light-years away. The discovery establishes a new way to study the universe.

5 things we know – and 5 we don’t – about ‘Oumuamua

Mysterious 'Oumuamua is the 1st confirmed interstellar object to pass through our solar system.